Marshfield Farm ice cream parlour not opening this summer

Marshfield Farm opened their ice cream parlour more than 10 years ago but said the farm can no longer cope with the demand

A popular ice cream maker says they will not be opening their farm ice cream parlour this summer due to high demand.

Marshfield Farm near Bath has been welcoming seasonal visitors at the ice cream parlour for over 10 years.

However, they have decided to take a break due to increase in popularity and safety reasons.

Owner Dawn Hawking said they will take the year off to come up with a new parlour concept.

Ms Hawking told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "Anyone who has been visiting our parlour would have noticed year on year we just get more and more people visiting."

She said while it made them so happy to see people enjoying their product, "the farm just can't cope with it."

She said the unprecedented number of visitors had made it "incredibly difficult" to predict how many staff were needed and said there were safety concerns especially as the location is on a working farm with moving machinery.

"It just became apparent we weren't giving the best experience to our loyal fans," she added.

'Only a year'

The ice cream boss said they had decided to take the year out to "really think and improve" on the experience for customers.

"We may make it more of a Marshfield experience where people can come and visit the farm and see how the ice cream is made," she said,

"It's going to be very quiet but it's not forever, it's just a year," she added.

She said anyone wanting to try out their ice cream would be able to order online or visit their farm shop stockists.